Metal Industry News

Bull Moose Tube has hired Jeff Strobach as the new vice president of sales. Eric Hickert has also been appointed director of sales/distribution for the St. Louis-based manufacturer of steel pipe and tube products.

Arconic Inc. will invest approximately $100 million to expand its hot mill capability and add downstream equipment capabilities to manufacture industrial and automotive aluminum products in its Tennessee Operations facility near Knoxville. Customer commitments for the majority of the anticipated increase in capacity are already in place, and the remainder is expected to be filled by projected customer demand, the company claims.

United States Steel Corp. has restarted construction of its electric arc furnace steelmaking facility at its Tubular Operations in Fairfield, Ala. The company previously started construction in March 2015, but suspended work in December due to unfavorable market conditions.

Valmont Industries Inc., Omaha, Neb., has acquired 100 percent of the outstanding shares of United Galvanizing Inc., Houston. The transaction was funded with cash on hand, and is expected to be accretive to earnings in Year 1.

United States Steel Corp. will restart the No. 1 electric-weld pipe mill at its Lone Star Tubular Operations in Lone Star, Texas. The No. 1 Mill was idled in 2016 due to challenging market conditions for tubular products created by fluctuating oil prices, reduced rig counts and high levels of unfairly traded imports, the company claimed.

AK Steel will close its Ashland Works facility in Kentucky by the end of the year. The West Chester, Ohio-based steelmaker idled most of the facility there years ago, continuing to operate a single hot-dip galvanized coating line.

Matalco Inc. , a producer of remelt, extrusion-grade aluminum billet, forging stock and rolling ingot slab, will expand its presence in the North American market with the construction of a new billet manufacturing facility in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. Matalco will invest $80 million to build the 10,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.